coffee break
Events
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Sky Island Alliance Coffee Break: The Incredible Story of Jaguars in the Borderlands
Join us on World Jaguar Day to celebrate majestic northern jaguars. Hear the latest updates on who's been spotted lately. Learn what organizations in Sonora and the southwestern U.S. are doing to provide jaguars with the connected open space they need to recover and thrive. We'll be hosting Turtle Southern from the Northern Jaguar Project, and Randy Serraglio from...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Be a Spring Seeker
Register for the Webinar Here Calling all Sky Island volunteers and hikers! During this webinar, learn how to collect valuable information on the health of springs across the Sky Island region independently. Our staff will introduce you to our new Spring Seeker survey for your smartphone and guide you through the simple steps to complete the survey during your...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Conservation in Mexico 101
Join a discussion with our new Conservation Director, Paulo Quadri Barba, as he tells the story of land tenure and conservation in Mexico and describes the conservation tools used to protect both public and private land. Hear the latest news on recent defunding of CONANP—Mexico’s equivalent to the National Park Service—and how reserves in the...
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Conservation in the Patagonia Mountains
Join a discussion with Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA)—one of Sky Island Alliance's Border Wildlife Study partners—to learn about wildlife conservation efforts in Arizona's Patagonia Mountains. For nearly a decade, PARA has collected camera data to document the incredible diversity of flora and fauna species that live within the mountains' canyons and corridors. However, many...
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Evaluation of Water Sources in Sonora’s Sky Islands / Evaluación de fuentes de agua natural en las Islas del Cielo de Sonora
Register Here Join us on October 1, 2020 at 9:30am MST for a conversation with UNISIERRA undergraduate and Sky Island Alliance intern, Angel Octavio Garcia Godinez, about the results of his Spring Seeker survey project in Sonora, MX this summer. Angel surveyed more than 40 springs with his family, dramatically increasing our knowledge of springs in the area and came...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Border Wildlife Study 6 Month Update
Register for the Zoom Link Join us to learn the latest results from our Border Wildlife Study. With 84 species detected since March, you won’t want to miss seeing photographs of the new species we’ve seen including porcupine and the Virginia opossum. We’ll discuss which species appear most often at night and which species prefer...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Best FotoFauna Photographs of 2020
Register for the Zoom Link Join us to see the many candid and beautiful wildlife photos contributed to Sky Island FotoFauna in 2020 by volunteers and partners across the region. During this virtual Coffee Break you will cast votes for the best photos of the year! Help us select the winning photographs and wrap up...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Celebrating Three Decades of Sky Island Conservation
Register Here The new year marks a huge milestone for Sky Island Alliance—2021 is the organization’s 30th anniversary! Join SIA Executive Director Louise Misztal and Communications Manager Anna Sofia for the first coffee break of 2021 and embark on a trip down memory lane. You’ll learn about the long-spanning history of Sky Island Alliance, get...
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Coffee Break: Sky Island Situation Room—Stopping the Runaway Wall
Register Here Border wall construction is ramping up just days before the Biden administration takes office. In the Patagonia Mountains, wall contractors are bulldozing and grading for roads. In the Huachuca Mountains, construction continues, damaging springs and mountain habitat and increasing traffic, noise, and light pollution. This violence against the landscapes of the Sky Island...
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Sky Island Coffee Break: Introduction to Aravaipa Canyon & Invasive Vinca
Register Here Join us Thursday, January 28 at 9:30 a.m. MST to learn about The Nature Conservancy’s Aravaipa Canyon Preserve and the work Sky Island Alliance is doing there on invasive periwinkle (Vinca major). First, TNC Preserve Steward Aaron Mrotek will give us an overview of the canyon, TNC’s role there, and the Vinca infestation...
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Coffee Break: The Forgotten Botanist
VirtualJoin us Sept. 1 for an exciting conversation with independent scholar, editor, poet, and author Wynne Brown, who will share details from Sara Lemmon’s life and work with an emphasis...
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Coffee Break: Updates From Our Border Wildlife Study
Through our Border Wildlife Study, we have monitored wildlife along nearly 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border for 4.5 years, and we are excited to share some of the insights...
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Saving Our Saguaros: Managing Grassification of the Sonoran Desert
VirtualJoin us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about a pressing issue in our region and what we can do to help. Our guest speaker will be Kim Franklin, associate director of conservation at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
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Coffee Break: Update on Our Migratory Bird Monitoring in Sonora
VirtualJoin us April 1 at 9:30 a.m. for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about our exciting new project bridging grassland bird conservation and regenerative ranching in Sonora. Our speakers will be SIA’s very own Wildlife Program Manager Eamon Harrity and Mexico Program Manager Zach Palma.
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Coffee Break on Borderlands Wildlife Corridors
VirtualOnly a few sections of the border within the Path of the Jaguar are still passable to most wildlife. One of these sections is the San Rafael Valley between the Patagonia and Huachuca mountains. However, once wildlife traverse the border, there are still a multitude of threats they must face including dangerous roads, lack of water, fences, mining, and development. Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to hear from Aaron Mrotek, the manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, and SIA’s Stewardship Manager Bryon Lichtenhan. They’ll discuss what our organizations are doing to improve the conditions for wildlife throughout this important landscape in partnership with other NGOs, state, and federal agencies. You'll also learn how to get involved with various projects.
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Coffee Break: How Nature Supports Southern Arizona’s Economy
VirtualPeople from all over the world come to southern Arizona to experience the outdoors, recreate, and just be among the area’s scenic landscapes and wildlife. But how much is that worth, and what are the costs if it’s lost? Join SIA for our next virtual Coffee Break. We’ll be joined by Borderlands Restoration Network board member Chuck Klingenstein, who will share results from the first Nature-Based Restorative Economy study in Santa Cruz County, commissioned by the community and conducted by the University of Arizona.
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Project Mountain Recharge: Moving Rocks to Save the Rain on Mt. Lemmon
VirtualIn response to the 2020 Bighorn Fire, Sky Island Alliance has been working with the Arizona Conservation Corps and Coronado National Forest to build more than 250 erosion-control structures out of loose rocks. This helps protect springs, conserve soils, limit fire risk, and infiltrate rainwater and snowmelt in areas that were burned. Now, we’re planning to continue this restoration work around more springs, the community of Summerhaven, and other inhabited areas in the Catalina Mountains. Join SIA Stewardship Manager Bryon Lichtenhan for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about this project and how to get involved.
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Coffee Break: Wildlife Research at the Border During Wall Construction
VirtualConcerned about all the recent developments at the border and not sure where that leaves wildlife? Join Sky Island Alliance’s wildlife team for our next virtual Coffee Break. We’ll take a virtual tour of southeast Arizona and describe the current status of border wall construction projects underway at the Santa Cruz River and across the San Rafael Valley. We’ll also share insights from our vast network of cameras that’s faithfully keeping watch on wildlife’s cross-border movement and tracking impacts.
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The Border Wall: Updates & Impacts for Mexico
VirtualWe've all heard about "the line," "la migra," and the illegal market that exists between Mexico and the United States. But have you ever wondered how border infrastructure affects local communities, Indigenous peoples, and the wildlife that inhabit this region? We invite you this Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. to our next virtual Coffee Break, a panel and open conversation in Spanish about the new border wall construction in the Sky Islands region and the social and ecological impacts it’s generating. Panelists will be representing various Mexican organizations with experience and perspective on the border.
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Coffee Break: A Floristic Tour of the Rincon Mountains
VirtualJoin us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about the Rincon Mountains’ exceptionally rich and dynamic plant diversity. As with so many of our sky islands, the plants in the Rincons originate from distinct regional floras and overlap across wide elevation ranges and rugged terrain. Our speaker is SIA Botanist Dan Beckman, who just recently joined us after 12 years with Saguaro National Park.
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Rattlesnakes Are Awesome Moms!
VirtualReady to explore the surprising world of rattlesnake families and learn how these remarkable reptiles care for and protect their young? Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break. Our guest speaker is Melissa Amarello, co-founder and executive director of Advocates for Snake Preservation. For her talk, she’ll draw on more than two decades of studying and living with reptiles to show us what snakes are really like through stories and videos.
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Coffee Break: Himdam, the Remarkable Ocelot That Traversed 4 Sky Islands
VirtualJoin us for this virtual Coffee Break to learn more about the remarkable journey of a male ocelot across four mountain ranges in the Sky Islands of Arizona, the longest-known trek by a single member of the species. This ocelot covered at least 111 miles and crossed I-19, AZ-82, and AZ-83 (at least twice) as it moved among the Atascosa Highlands, Whetstone Mountains, Patagonia Mountains, and Santa Rita Mountains. One of the more fascinating aspects of this story is that the ocelot was detected in four separate ranges by four organizations, who then collaborated to tell the story. We'll be joined by several partners for the talk to discuss this intrepid cat and what's next for ocelot conservation.
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Leaping Lagomorphs: A Deep Dive on Rabbits and Hares of the Sky Islands
VirtualJoin us for this virtual Coffee Break with SIA Wildlife Specialist Meagan Bethel, who will take us on a deep dive into the different cottontail and jackrabbit species that make their home in the Sky Islands and bring so much joy with their every hop and step. Together, we’ll learn how to identify each species in the field and on camera. Meagan will also share their life history and distribution across the region using data from our FotoFauna and Border Wildlife Study cameras.
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From Summer Rains to Winter El Niño: The Climate Outlook for the Southwest
VirtualJoin us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about one of our region’s favorite topics: rain — how much we can hope for and when it’s likely to come next. Our guest speakers are climate experts Mike Crimmins and Zack Guido from the University of Arizona. Their presentation will review how this year’s monsoon evolved across the U.S. Southwest from June through September, highlighting key precipitation patterns, temperature anomalies, and notable shifts. Then they’ll turn to the strong El Niño now developing and what it may mean for precipitation, temperature, drought, and other climate impacts across our region during the upcoming fall and winter.
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Coffee Break: Springs of the Chiricahua Mountains
VirtualSprings emerge throughout the Chiricahua Mountains, a beloved sky island on the border between southeast Arizona and New Mexico. Thanks to the efforts of dozens of Spring Seeker volunteers who have surveyed these springs over the years, we understand just how important these water sources are for people, plants, and wildlife. Join us for this virtual springs tour led by Emily Burns, Sky Island Alliance’s Program Director for the Northern Sky Islands, to hear about how important springs are, the condition of springs in the Chiricahuas, how we protect and restore springs, and ways you can get involved.
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Tending Environmental Grief: Part One
VirtualWe are living in an era of significant environmental change and loss. In recognizing that these times are challenging to live in, adapt to, and cope with, it’s essential that we come together as a community to process our experiences. Supporting ourselves and one another is just as important as stewarding the land and waters. Join Sky Island Alliance and Maria Renée for a dedicated time to understand the terrain of environmental grief, process our emotions, celebrate this beautiful region, and practice building resilience together. This webinar kicks off a series of opportunities to contribute your creative responses to a changing region, whether they come from grief, hope, or anything in between. A follow-up webinar on Dec. 10 at 9:30 a.m. will give participants a chance to share their reflections and experiences.
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Springs Bird Watch: Following the Water and the Life It Supports
VirtualCalling all birders in the Sky Islands! We’re launching a new bird-monitoring project, Springs Bird Watch, to document the region’s avian diversity and the water sources that birds and other wildlife depend on, from low desert to upper pines. Join our virtual Coffee Break to learn how to get started, where to go, and how your observations at springs can help both resident and migratory species, from hermit thrushes and hummingbirds to yellow-billed cuckoos and elegant trogons. Eamon Harrity, SIA’s wildlife program manager and an enthusiastic birder, will lead the talk and explain how your data will help advance both bird and spring conservation.
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Atender el duelo ecológico: parte I
VirtualVivimos en una época marcada por cambios y pérdidas ambientales significativas. Dado que estos tiempos resultan difíciles de afrontar, resulta fundamental que nos unamos como comunidad para procesar nuestras vivencias. Acompaña a Sky Island Alliance y a nuestra comunidad en un espacio dedicado a explorar el terreno del duelo ecológico, procesar nuestras emociones, celebrar esta hermosa región y fortalecer nuestra resiliencia de manera colectiva. Este seminario web gratuito da inicio a una serie de oportunidades para compartir tus respuestas creativas ante una región en constante cambio, ya sea que surjan del duelo, la esperanza o cualquier otro sentimiento intermedio. Un segundo seminario web, más adelante, brindará a los participantes la oportunidad de compartir sus reflexiones y experiencias a partir de una serie de actividades que se realizarán en los próximos meses.